Identity for sale: Construction of a national identity for the needs of tourism

Abstract

In this text the construction of national identity has been analyzed through the example of national tourism strategy in Serbia framed within the contemporary state's process of 'branding' the nation. Through the analysis of Marketing strategy and recently published tourist brochures designed for foreign tourists, the aim is to investigate the ways in which representation of a new national identity, utilized for consumption and selling to the Others, is constructed. The text points out to the perspectives of cultural management and strategic government of national representation as a way of repositioning the bad image of Serbia. The analysis shows that, rather than negative connotations that 'follow' the notion of balkanism, tourist reformulation leads to changed, but still ambiguous and undefined representation. In this text I point out to the aspect of branding - as marketing process which uses cultural recourses - that leads to pacification of the image. Seen as a strategic mean by which the stigma could be averted, the paper shows that this process does not offer a structural solution of the problem which represents the obstacle of Serbia's further development.